Mutual Respect
by yuji-i16
Summary: Anko's respect for Kakashi had to come from somewhere. Ten years ago, her sensei left her behind without a second glance, and she desperately needed someone to cling to. All she got was our favorite lazy, oneeyed pervert.
1. Meeting

A/N:  


Before I get started I'd like to get a couple things out of the way. First of all, I don't own Naruto, and once of all I'm going to bend the few details we're sure about to get my own way and to further the story. This likely won't be a romance, but it'll be close  
  
Chapter One

He'd abandoned her in the dead of night. The man she'd looked up to, admired, and even loved had just abandoned her as if she'd meant nothing to him, and perhaps, she hadn't. She just didn't want to believe that. She was his only student and was going to be the heir to his techniques, so why would he do this? He'd looked her straight in the eyes and told her she was weak and didn't deserve to be following him, and then he'd left her there, injured and lying in a pool of her own blood while he ran, fleeing Konoha and the ninjas trailing him.

It hadn't taken long before they found her, trying futilely to hide in the nearby bushes. The ANBU had debated killing her, but it wasn't in their orders and none of them wanted to be responsible for killing a fourteen-year-old girl. They'd questioned her urgently, but she refused to answer and soon passed out from the lack of blood. Without any other choice they dragged her back to Konoha.

Which was where she was at this very moment. She was lying on a hospital bed while the Hokage, Sandaime himself paced worried circles around her bed. "Did he mention anything about where he was going?"

"No."

"Did he tell you what he was doing here? Or why the ANBU is after him?"

"No."

"How did you get injured?"

"I took a kunai in it and then I fell and broke it."

"Did you get wounded protecting him?"

"No."

He sounded weary, but she could still perceive the concern and pity in his voice. "Anko...he rejected you, there's no reason for you to protect him anymore. Do you have any idea how many people he's killed?"

She wasn't a fool. Her sensei was a Jounin, so he'd been on a lot of dangerous missions. "I know it was a lot."

"At this point we've found forty-five bodies of your fellow villagers that he killed in his quest to perfect an immortality jutsu and I have reason to believe that he was not above using you."

Her breath hitched in her chest. Sure Orochimaru could be a bit condescending, but he wouldn't kill her, would he?

"He left you to die Anko. He doesn't care for you at all."

"It's only a broken leg, he knew I wouldn't die."

Sarutobi sighed. She was being difficult. "You may not realize it, but by going with him, you became a traitor to this village. You know very well that ANBU are allowed to kill traitors. And Orochimaru knew this as well."

Anko clenched her fist. "I don't want to talk anymore. Could you please leave now?"

He nodded and locked eyes with the ANBU member leaning against the wall. "He'll stay here with you for the night."

She acknowledged him with a soft grunt and kept her eyes trained on her cast, not bothering to watch Sandaime leave. She was so very tired, but she couldn't sleep, not with that ANBU's eyes burning holes into her back. "Can't you look somewhere else?"

"It's my responsibility to watch you and that's what I'm going to do." He slid down into an Indian squat, his arms folded across his chest.

His voice had a slight squeak to it and she guessed that it hadn't completely deepened yet. So he was a teenager, and probably not much older than her. Great. That made her feel so much better. Now her imagination made his eyes on her feel so much more terrifying. "Please, do you have to look at me like that?"

"How would you prefer I look at you?"

"I'd rather you didn't at all."

"Unfortunately, that's not an option. I'd be held responsible if you escaped my custody."

"How am I going to run with this on my foot?" She motioned to the bulky cast.

"You're a Chuunin." She could hear the smile in his voice. "I'd say you're capable of it."

"Where would I go?"

"Back to your sensei."

"I told you what happened. He doesn't want me anymore."

"That won't stop you. You love your sensei, don't you?"

"Why does it matter to you?"

She heard him sigh and then the rustle of his clothing as he rearranged himself. "It doesn't. Go to sleep."

She groaned at his authoritative tone and pulled the thin sheet up over her head. How dare he think he could boss her around like that? She'd show him. She tightened her fist under the covers and was overcome by a massive yawn. That needle the nurse had given her for the pain had finally kicked in. She lost control of her eyelids as they slowly descended over her eyes, the soft whirring of the machines lulling her to sleep.

When she woke up the next morning he was still there, sitting in the corner, staring at her.

He stood up. "You're awake."

"Yeah." She struggled into a half-sitting position, careful not to jostle her leg. "You're still here."

"I am." His answer was short and to the point, designed so that she couldn't find an issue to provoke him over.

"I told you that I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm not guarding you for my own health. It's for your safety."

"I'm not important enough to kill. There's nothing to worry about."

"Sandaime isn't worried about anyone else."

It took a moment for the true meaning of his words to sink in. "Suicide?" True, her thoughts had been of a more depressing nature as of late, but that had never crossed her mind.

"You lost your family didn't you? And now this."

"There isn't anyone in this village who hasn't lost anybody."

He was silent for a long moment, probably remembering his own losses.

"And when you're the last one left in your family there isn't any point in dying. Right?"

He nodded quietly.

Anko could tell that his mind was occupied and stared at the door, her own mind wandering. Like a lot of the others, her parents had been among the ninjas who'd gone out and helped in the fight against Kyuubi two years ago. She remembered crying, clutching at her mother's skirt, begging them not to go, but her father had ruffled her hair, told her she was a big girl and promised that they would come back.

He'd lied. The next morning she'd learned that Yondaime had sealed Kyuubi, but hadn't been able to prevent his own death or those of her parents. Her sensei had been out of town then, and she'd had no one to turn to with her grief, so she'd buried it deep inside. Sandaime had started sending her on missions as soon as the village's period of grief was over, trying to get her mind off of her losses. And then she'd seen him again three weeks ago. He'd never told her why his trip had lasted so long, but she trusted that he would take care of her again, protect her like he used to do. It turned out that her trust was misplaced. He left her again to fend for herself.

The door opened and once more the Hokage entered the room, the ANBU standing to attention upon seeing him. "Good morning Anko, I trust you're feeling better?"

"My leg hurts."

"I'll send the nurse in soon enough," he sat in the chair next to her bed. "However, I would like to get some answers from you first."

"I don't see how I can help you," she glared at Sandaime. "I don't know anything."

He sighed. "Anko, do not make this difficult for yourself. If this continues I will be required to keep you under protective custody. And you might even have to be jailed. I would hate to have to do something like that to someone as promising as you are."

She groaned. "I told you already. I don't know anything. He just said that he was in town temporarily and I wanted to go with him when he left. Why is that such a big deal?"

"Because he's a criminal," the ANBU inserted, obviously fed up with her simple idiocy.

Something inside of her snapped. "Shut up bastard! You don't know him!"

"I know enough," he replied curtly, turning his masked face on hers, daring her to continue.

Sandaime cleared his throat. "Perhaps it's about time I tell you the true nature of my visit here this morning."

Both teens turned to look at him, shooting each other a glare one last time.

"I'd like to thank you for spending the night here, and I have your next mission right here," he reached into his robe and passed the young ANBU a brown scroll. Satisfied with completing that action, he nodded to the teens and left the room.

When the door closed Anko returned to glaring at the room's only other occupant. "Well..."

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to open it?"

"This isn't any of your business."

"Why do I get the feeling that it's totally my business?"

He scowled at her behind the mask, and then smiled sheepishly when he realized that she couldn't see his expressions and against his better judgment squatted on the floor again, opening the scroll before her.

"So?" she rested her chin on her hands and looked down at him.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Damn you."

"Aww, what's wrong? Don't tell me a big strong ANBU like you has to search for someone's pet pig?"

"No. Worse."

"You have to clean up after someone's pet pig?" she shuddered as she remembered a similar horrible experience.

"No. I have to watch you. For the next two months."


	2. Eternal Rivals

A/N: All is well for a Neji fangirl like me now, so I decided to give you another chapter of this story, though this story is completely unrelated to Neji. At this stage in the game, Anko and Kakashi have passing dislike for each other as that will fade, become something intensely opposite to that, and then eventually down to mutual respect. So here you go, and you also get the first and second of several guest appearances.

Chapter Two

Kakashi sighed as he stashed several of his magazines under his bed. Since reading the description of his new mission, he'd exhausted his brain trying to come up with a viable excuse for him to humbly refuse this task, but he'd come up with nothing that Sandaime wouldn't shoot down. So with much resignation, he began cleaning up his one-bedroom apartment to share with an agonizing, uncute teenage girl.

He groaned to himself. The other ANBU really didn't have to put up with this. It probably was his own fault for showing off too much as a kid. If he'd been a lowly chuunin like her at sixteen and a half, he wouldn't have gotten stuck with this assignment. The white-haired teen stretched, exhausted from spending every waking moment cleaning. The next two months with her would be hell.

True to form, at ten a.m. exactly, there was a knock on his door. Yawning to himself under his half-mask, Kakashi walked over to the door and pulled it open. Standing in front of him, bald and intimidating as ever, stood proud rookie ANBU member, Morino Ibiki, Anko standing several feet behind him, looking severely displeased. "Che, of all people they trapped you with her for the morning?" he folded his arms across his chest and forced back a laugh. "How did you possibly survive?" he questioned dryly.

"Not funny Hatake," he jabbed a finger at the shorter man's chest. "Anyway," he stepped aside, revealing the scowling girl. "She's all yours."

The two rooming teens exchanged a glare and then Kakashi stepped aside to allow her entrance.

Forcing herself not to look at him, Anko concentrated instead on maneuvering on her crutches without making a fool of herself. She managed to hobble inside while ignoring the smirk on the face of the silver-haired boy. Eventually she made it to what appeared to be the small apartment's only chair, a ratted blue couch and slumped down onto it. "So," she focused on her fingers. "What are we going to do today?"

"I don't care what you do," Kakashi walked over to his bed and jumped in. "As long as you don't wake me up."

"What?"

"You're not exactly a threat to run away. Even a great chuunin like you couldn't get away without making enough noise to wake the dead with that cast on your foot." He shrugged his shoulders. "Why waste a perfectly good time to catch up on sleep?"

As the older boy yawned and climbed in under his covers, Anko silently seethed. She was starting to think that being killed by the ANBU would've been a much brighter future. Oh well, it wasn't like that was totally out of the question. All she had to do was wring this little bastard's neck and she'd be well on her way to a swift, merciful death.

She fought her way back to her feet and stumbled over to his bed. As good of a ninja as he supposedly was, _he_ hadn't heard her get up. For a few moments she just stood there, watching him, contemplating whether or not she should try beating him to death with one of her crutches.

Her homicidal ideas were put on hold for the moment when her stomach growled in hunger. Like the genius that she was, she'd decided to turn down the hospital food on the grounds that it was unrecognizable mush and her sensitive stomach would never be able to handle it. Crossing her fingers mentally, she hoped that the older ninja had something edible in his kitchen to pacify her.

She managed to get into the kitchen without breaking anything significant, though his coffee table leg was now sufficiently cracked. Sighing to herself she began opening every cupboard she could reach in her quest for food.

This was not her day. She was hungry, her cast itched and that bastard just had to put the food on the high shelves in his cupboards, making eating a nearly impossible task due to her injury and 5'2" frame. Anko slammed the doors shut in frustration, hoping to jar him awake, but she wasn't that blessed. He continued to sleep soundly, his soft breathing often punctuated by a fit of snoring which would die down after a few seconds.

Her homicidal rage returning for a few seconds, it took all she had to go over to the couch, sit down and ignore it. However, without her plans to kill Kakashi, it didn't take long for the boredom to set in. Kakashi's small apartment was conveniently bare of certain luxuries, most notably of them, a TV. The couch was positioned in front of a stand just tall enough to hold a television and she surmised that either his had been broken or he was still saving up for one.

However, without a television and pleasurable human company she couldn't control her dormant urges, most of them involving dismembering a certain sleeping silver-haired boy in various cruel and inhumane ways. Just before she actually got up to carry out those urges, fate intervened in the form of a knock on the door.

After the sixth knock she became painfully aware that either Kakashi was a really deep sleeper or just good at pretending. Resigning herself to her fate, Anko stood to her feet again, knowing in the back of her mind that this had to be murder on her broken leg and walked over to the door.

Just as she was about to open it a warning screamed in her mind and she took a cautious step to the side. Seconds later the door exploded off its hinges, crashing into the wall behind it. Enshrouded in the doorway was the silhouette of a man, his foot poised in a kicking position. The sunlight streamed behind him, obstructing any significant details of the man. "Eternal Rival! You have missed yet another one of our contests! I have concluded that only sickness or death would've kept you away from such a battle as ours and have brought chicken soup to aid with your wellbeing!" Not even bothered by the fact that he had destroyed Kakashi's front door, the ninja (she could only assume that he was, considering what he'd done to the poor door) stomped inside.

Even though it wasn't her place, she couldn't help but feel offended by his rudeness. "Who the hell are you?"

The man turned to face her and she could now see his features all the more clearly. He was probably about the same age as Kakashi, but he wore a bodysuit of the tackiest green, and all of his hair was gelled back in a bowl-cut. Once his eyes landed on her, his face broke into a wide smile, and she couldn't help but take a few unconscious hobbles backwards. "Maito Gai, it is a pleasure to meet you," he bowed halfway and then something seemed to dawn on him. Kakashi had missed his challenge and when he came to bring him the chicken soup of instant health he found a girl at his apartment.

Gai brushed past the girl, thoughts of impressing her long forgotten. He leapt up into the air and came down hard on Kakashi's sleeping body. However, before Gai could rant about how unethical it was to ignore one's obligation as a man to keep his promises to take advantage of a younger girl blinded by his popularity there was a popping sound beneath his feet and smoke billowed up towards his face.

When the smoke cleared Gai was standing on top of a dummy and Kakashi was perched on top of his head. "What are you doing here, bastard?"


	3. Chicken Soup for the Ninja Soul

A/N: My humblest apologies for making you wait an entire month for the third chapter, but here it goes, Mutual Respect, part 3.

Chapter Three

Anko smirked as she watched the annoyance flicker over Kakashi's usually calm features. Gai continued to talk animatedly almost as if he didn't notice that his audience was ignoring him.

"Ah yes, Kakashi and I first met when we were mere toddlers, still awed with the beauty of this earth. Even then we could feel the intensity that flickered between us and I won my first battle over him in a footrace."

"I couldn't even walk then," Kakashi contested.

Gai continued, not even acknowledging that he had spoken. "It was at the ninja academy that we became true rivals and even though he graduated long before me, I continued to train myself and challenge him to determine which of us is the greater ninja."

"And?" Anko asked honestly, wondering if he was stronger than the other boy.

Gai hung his head. "We are tied, the record of our manly battles is 10-10. But never fear, as I, Maito Gai will continue to challenge Hatake Kakashi until a definitive winner has been determined, even if it takes me ten years."

Kakashi sighed. "Just give it up Gai. I don't want to fight."

"There is no reason for us to fight to determine our skill. We can play rock, paper, scissors to show off which one of us has better reasoning. I can guarantee you that my trained mind is better than your genius one."

Anko raised an eyebrow. Was he actually serious?

"Why don't you challenge her?" Kakashi pointed to her. "She's a genius too. She even had one of the Sannin all to herself for four years as her sensei."

Gai looked broken-hearted for a moment, but then he reaffixed his blinding smile to his features. Anko briefly wondered just how much toothpaste he used daily. "I have already decided to challenge you Kakashi. Do not try to pawn our heated rivalry off on someone else."

"I'm not pawning. I was merely offering Anko-san a chance to fight with such a strong ninja."

Gai beamed at the compliment, not noticing that Kakashi was rearing to disappear. Anko however, did notice. "Gai-san?"

Gai blushed even more deeply at her use of the honorific. "Yes Anko-chan?"

"I'm really hungry, would you mind if I ate the chicken soup instead of Kakashi?"

His eyes widened impossibly and looked as though they would burst out of his head. "Are you kidding? I would be honored."

She had meant to exhibit some restraint in unwrapping the chicken soup from its package, but her hunger had by this time taken advantage of her. She shredded the paper bag with her fingers, picked up a nearby spoon and attacked the meager meal with a ferocity she didn't know she possessed.

Kakashi watched wide-eyed as the short thin girl packed away the food like a woman three times her girth. Gai looked on with a sense of pride, preening as she slurped up the last bit of soup and placed the spoon in the now empty bowl. "Well done!" he congratulated her. "Your appetite is comparable to my own after a long hard day of training to best Kakashi in battle. This recipe was passed down through many generations of my family, packed with the best herbs and spices to completely restore your chakra."

When Anko was busy packing down the food she didn't even get a chance to taste the food. She had just been satisfied at the feeling of fullness she'd gotten. She got that lost opportunity when the chicken soup made it's way back up and didn't even get the chance to stand up to run to the bathroom before she barfed all over Gai's obnoxious green bodysuit.

Kakashi didn't even bother stifling his laughter. He threw his head back and laughed so hard that his chair began to tilt backwards. Gai had been in the middle of ranting about how excellent a cook he was and about how Kakashi could learn a thing or two from him in the kitchen when he'd been hit in the mouth with a stream of gray-brown vomit. He righted his equilibrium before he ended up on his back on the ground but his ears still registered the sound of a body hitting the floor.

He stood up and looked over the table for the source of the noise and sure enough Anko was sprawled out on the floor, the chair several inches away from her. "Way to go Gai. You poisoned her. Did you ever think that there was a reason why I never ate any of your other offerings?"

"You were jealous of my talent and the fact that the only thing you can make is instant ramen?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "I was supposed to be protecting her. It defeats the purpose if she ends up getting killed on my watch," he walked over to the fallen girl and pulled her into a sitting position.

Gai raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"She ate more soup than came up. I'm just making sure she doesn't puke while she's asleep and choke herself to death."

"Is there anything I can do?" the usually sunny young man sounded incredibly depressed.

"Yeah," Kakashi rubbed the girl's back in a smooth circle, waiting to see if anything else came up. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes," Gai brightened up considerably. "After this you will definitely need a day all to yourself to train with your greatest rival of rivals," jumping up from the table and overturning the chair, Gai bounded out of the apartment.

The silver-haired ANBU breathed a sigh of relief after his excitable friend disappeared through the front door and hooked an arm under the girl's legs. "You really are a troublesome girl, do you know that?"

Of course, Anko didn't respond. He walked over to his bed and rested the girl on it, covering her in the sheets. That done he dug a magazine from under his bed and crossed over to the couch, throwing himself down on it to read.

The girl woke up with a start to find herself lying in an unfamiliar bed. Her mind raced several thousand miles an hour as she tried to figure out how she ended up here. The last thing she remembered was being chased by several angry ANBU. Had she been captured? Her leg felt especially heavy, had she been tied to the bed? Her brown eyes swept over the room several times. From the posters she surmised that this room belonged to a teenage boy, either that or an old pervert. Just who had kidnapped her?

She received her answer in the form of the silver-haired male lying on the blue couch, a girlie magazine covering the lower half of his face. His soft breaths occasionally disturbed the pages, causing them to rustle in the stillness. In that moment everything came flooding back to her. Orochimaru had betrayed her and Konoha, leaving her behind to face the hunting ANBU with a broken leg and then she'd been captured and Sandaime had assigned this sleeping pervert, Hatake Kakashi to watch over her. She remembered moving in with him this afternoon and then getting a visit from the strangest man she'd ever met, Maito Gai. She'd been so hungry that she'd even eaten his chicken soup.

She'd never had anything so horrible and her stomach had rejected it almost before she'd finished swallowing the last bite. She remembered trying to stand and then her world started spinning and she fell to the ground. All traces of Gai were removed from the room, including the vomit that she'd left on the table. She could only guess that Kakashi had moved her to the bed and even cleaned up after her. She was surprised that he didn't wait 'til she awoke and then force her to do it, he seemed like the type.

She felt strangely comfortable in this bed and overcome by an alien feeling, she whispered a soft 'Thank you' in his direction and then drew the covers back over her head and fell asleep.

Underneath his magazine, Kakashi smiled.


End file.
